


Acceptable Paramaters

by Batdad (MizGoat)



Series: The Quartermaster [7]
Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Injury Recovery, M/M, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-21
Updated: 2018-03-21
Packaged: 2019-04-05 10:34:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14042343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MizGoat/pseuds/Batdad
Summary: It happened so fast. That’s what’s clearest to Tadhg in his memory. The whole event was just a chain of frantic reactions that ended with him passing out before he’d even fully processed what had happened. The only other brutally clear detail was the pain.He woke up in a bacta tank.





	Acceptable Paramaters

It happened so fast. That’s what’s clearest to Tadhg in his memory. The whole event was just a chain of frantic reactions that ended with him passing out before he’d even fully processed what had happened. The only other brutally clear detail was the pain.

He woke up in a bacta tank. He felt numb, and his thoughts were fuzzy. Painkillers, he concluded with a bit of effort. He wasn’t wearing a mask, so they must have oxygenated the bacta to let it heal something in his lungs. Slowly the world outside the bacta tank came into focus. Brass and Steady were sitting together on a bench on the other side of the room. Brass had fallen asleep with his head on Steady’s shoulder. Every line of their bodies told of exhaustion, yet Tadhg found himself distantly pleased to see them together like this.

Steady looked up from the tablet he had been working on and tapped Brass on the shoulder. Brass’s head jerked up and he followed Steady’s gaze until his eyes met Tadhg’s.

Like a bolt Brass was up and standing next to the tank. He placed both his palms to the glass and seemed to be searching for some sort of answer. Tadhg didn’t know the what the answer was but he tried to lift his hand to meet Brass’s from his side of the glass. His arm felt so heavy. It was hard to stay awake. Before he drifted off to sleep again he saw Steady place a hand on Brass’s shoulder. 

When he woke again he was surprised to see General Kenobi and Commander Cody were there. He was more surprised to see the anger radiating from Steady. There had been a time when he had thought that Steady was above such nuisance emotions, but time and close living had proven that composed and calm were not the same thing.

They were talking, but Tadhg couldn’t hear them. He wondered if it was the muffling effect of the bacta, or if he had simply gone deaf. He could remember fragments of an explosion, and his ears ringing fiercely. 

The General frowned slightly, and Tadhg knew he wasn’t the only one who could read past Steady’s stoic outer facade. Still it wasn’t until the Commander’s brows furrowed that Tadhg’s heart skipped a beat.

Whatever they were saying, Steady couldn’t afford to get in trouble just because he was upset. Too many people depended on him for him to mouth off to the General.

From somewhere he dragged out the energy to bang his hand against the glass. It was weaker than he had hoped, but it must have been loud enough to hear because all three men turned to look at him. Embarrassment coursed through him. Perhaps it was his imagination, but it seemed to burn worse on his right side. Steady locked eyes with him and whatever he saw in Tadhg’s face made him sigh and bite his lip.

After a hastily executed salute, Steady left. Message received, Tadhg thought. 

The next time he woke up, he was in pain all along the right side of his face and shoulders, and he could hear the muffled sounds of an argument. He couldn’t make out the words, but he’s relieved to know that he isn’t deaf. His relief vanished when he saw who was arguing.

It was Steady and Brass.

Once again it was Steady who first noticed that he was awake. Steady who always noticed the details. He grabbed up the tablet he always had nearby and typed on it before holding it up to the glass.

“I’m going to The Speck.”

Tadhg nodded. It made sense. The had been scheduled to visit soon, for starters. If Steady was wound tight enough to snap at the General, then he needed to be somewhere else. And, well, if whatever he was supposed to be healing in here didn’t, he might be in dire need of Sten’s help. 

Brass exploded. He was yelling loud enough that every so often Tadhg could make out a word or two. None of them were anything he would have cared to repeat. Coward was the kindest word in the mix.

“How are you ok with this?” came through as Brass turned first to Tadhg then back to continue his tirade at Steady. They had never told him. Not all of it. It was illegal after all, and telling him would have meant involving him in their crime. And now they were paying for that, but it didn't look like Steady was explaining anything. It didn't look like Steady was saying anything at all.

Steady left the room with Brass following him as far as the door before turning back to Tadhg. Once more he looked up into the tank as if seeking some answer from Tadhg. This time though, Tadhg was able to lift his palm to the glass. Brass pressed his hand on the other side then rested his forehead on the glass too. Tadhg realized Brass was crying and his stomach dropped. He ached with the desire to reach out and hold his lover, but all he could feel was the cool glass of the tank.

Time moved slowly after that. Tadhg used the empty days to try and remember what had happened to him.

He had been running a resupply to bring more ammo to one of their forward artillery. They had met with more resistance than expected, and what should have been a brief fight had been dragged into something more like a siege. That much was easy to remember.

There had been an explosion. The lower half of his bucket had gotten damaged. Must have clogged or crushed the air filters, because suddenly Tadhg had been unable to breathe. So he had pulled his helmet off, and gasped for fresh air

That was when the second explosion had happened. Everything had started to sound too far away and there had been blood in his eyes. Breathing had brought nothing but pain. Then he had woken up in the bacta tank.

Had anyone else he had been with survived? He’d been too overwhelmed with his own pain to notice. He thought of how Steady kept the names of everyone who died under his command tattooed on his back. How many more names would he be adding? Who among his squad hadn’t come home?

Getting out of the bacta was an ordeal. He’d had to cough out the mixture still in his lungs and it had caused every newly healed piece of tissue to scream with the effort. The taste had also been revolting and Tadhg wasn’t sure he’d ever get free of the sickeningly sweet smell of the stuff.

Then had come tests. The results of which all began to tell a singular story.

  * Lung capacity diminished. Still within acceptable parameters.
  * Speech impaired. Still within acceptable parameters.
  * 85% hearing loss in right ear. Left ear still optimal. Overall hearing still within acceptable parameters.
  * It is to be noted that CT-8614 has lost as significant portion of his senses of smell and taste however these losses are not expected to interfere with his ability to perform his duties.



Cleared for return to combat.

Tadhg had almost vomited when he finally saw his reflection in the mirror. The right side of his face was a twisted mass of pink scar tissue. Most of his right ear simply wasn’t there anymore. He didn’t recognize the face staring back at him and he couldn’t shake the idea that it was some other clone he was looking at.

His voice had been another shock. He couldn’t yell. Speaking at normal volume took effort. Everything he said came out raspy and hoarse. Tadhg thought with a pang of the nights spent reading to Brass or to Steady and wondered if he would be able to do that anymore. Or if they would want to listen to his harsh, creaking voice if he could.

Thankfully Steady was back. And while he suspected that he and Brass still weren’t on speaking terms, there seemed to be a truce while they were with him. He found himself constantly reaching for one or the other of them. He needed to know that they still saw him, even when he barely recognized himself. They were quiet and subdued, but they always seemed willing to hold his hand or wrap an arm around his shoulder. He let himself settle into Steady’s reassuring presence and Brass’s warm affection. He’d survived. 

The first night back in his own bunk, Brass sneaked in to lay next to him. The smell of Brass’s cheap cologne was the first thing that managed to cut through the lingering stench of bacta and Tadhg cried out at recognizing it’s musky notes.The noise started Brass into frantic checking that he hadn’t hurt Tadhg. Tadhg just shook his head and kissed him. 

**Author's Note:**

> Many thanks to [DivineValley](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DivineValley/pseuds/DivineValley) who has been wonderful encouragement on getting this written.


End file.
